Turkey’s inflation rate resumed its decline as a more stable lira and the effect of a high base of comparison restrain price growth.

Consumer prices rose 15% in August from a year earlier, compared with an increase of 16.7% in July, Turkstat said on Tuesday. The median of 21 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey was 15.6%. Prices rose 0.9% in the month.

Key Insights

Food inflation slipped to 17.2% from 18.2% the previous month. It remains above the central bank’s year-end forecast of 15%.

The slowdown in food inflation can be attributed to seasonal factors. The government has until recently struggled to keep food costs in check by using a campaign of threats, fines and deep discounts.

A core index that strips out the impact of volatile items such as food and energy dropped to 13.6%, showing significant improvement in the underlying price dynamics; producer price inflation fell to 13.5% from 21.7%.

Turkey’s central bank is poised to continue with interest-rate cuts this month after its record monetary easing in July
Markets.

The lira erased losses after the data and was trading 0.2% stronger at 5.7977 versus the dollar at 10:01 a.m. in Istanbul